Shale Daily

A five-week air quality study found no air contaminant emission levels indicating problems for residents living near Marcellus Shale natural gas operations in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Greene and Washington counties, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Monday.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has 100 wells, “maybe a few more,” in the Marcellus Shale alone that are not completed or tied in as they await infrastructure, a company executive said Tuesday.

Oil and natural gas producers and environmental groups routinely have been at odds with each other over the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but they are now working together to draft a framework for regulation.

Baker Hughes Inc.’s management team reported Monday that the purchase of pressure pumping specialist BJ Services Inc. already is paying off, helping to boost quarterly profits both year/year and sequentially, with most of the uptick coming from work in North America’s unconventional basins.

EXCO Resources Inc. CEO Douglas Miller has proposed a buyout of the company at $20.50/share cash, the Dallas-based natural gas-focused exploration and production company said Monday. Oilman T. Boone Pickens as well as two investment firms are said to be in on the offer, which is worth $4.36 billion.

Continued growth in production of shale gas and recent discoveries in deep waters offshore is expected to increase domestic natural gas production through 2035 and will be reflected in the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) next Annual Energy Outlook, which is due out in December, according to EIA Administrator Richard Newell.

Companies in Arkansas would have to reveal all of the chemicals they will use during hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations at new natural gas wells in the state prior to fracking, according to rule changes being considered by the state’s Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC).

In its efforts to make energy operations in the state more transparent, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Monday launched an online service that details natural gas and oil production and compliance information.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law Wednesday legislation reducing the amount of roll-back tax that owners of farmland must pay when leasing land and mineral rights for natural gas development.